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Thursday, April 20, 2017

There ain't nothing wrong with either Communism or Capitalism and people that harp on about them are either ignorant or are trying to misdirect your attention from the real problems with both systems.

America uses Communism as their boogy man and communist countries do the same with Capitalism. Strange in the case of America since her favorite ally is Israel. Israel is the only country I know of that has had actual Communism. Their communes are called Kibbutzim (plural of Kibbutz) and were truly communistic organizations. They provide a good case study of real communism.

Kibbutsim were not the type of commune we are more familiar with, with a charismatic religious leader such as with the many communes that self destruct. With the religious sort of commune, the charismatic leader takes a leaf out of the book of many countries and uses the fear of 'others' to hold his commune together. Look how America does this with the fear of communism and now her new boogy man, Terrorism. In the communes we are more familiar with, people get more and more paranoid, often collect weapons and build walls around their commune. Besides, the charismatic leader, before long, feels that every attractive female in the group should be his 'hand maiden' and this sows discontent. Some of these communes go so far as to commit suicide to bring on the apocalypses.

No, the Israeli Kibutz is run on democratic principles. In the Kibutz are a number of different enterprises. Often they have fish ponds, a dairy, cotton fields, greenhouses for cut flowers and usually a factory producing, say, socks or plastic items. The leaders of these enterprises are chosen from the group according to their ability and typically hold that position for 3 years. Then they rotate to another sector in the kibutz, or go to university,or spend some years in the army or are voted to be the lea-son to the general kibutz movement. One of their members is often chosen to be the head of the Kibutz (also, typically for 3 years). So what keeps them motivated.

They all get exactly the same allowance to buy things in the Kibutz store, all wear the same clothes, all live in the same standard of accommodation
and so forth. Hard to believe, coming from our western societies where money is the measure of all things but they are motivated by their position in the community. Someone who runs the dairy farm and runs it well is looked up to by all the member of the commune and this, plus the satisfaction of doing a good job that helps his fellow members makes him always strive to do his job well.

I must mention here that the classic Kibutz system has broken down in Israel but for reasons that have nothing to do with the above. That might be the subject of a future blog.

Two lessons we should take from the Kibbutz. One it is democratic and two it recognizes the rule of law. Everyone has a say at the regular meetings where the policy of the Kibutz is hammered out and no one is above the law. Kibbutzim are fair and equitable and transparent. They also seem to work best in societies of up to about 250 individuals. When they get too big, the effect of everyone knowing everyone else tends to weaken. Incidentally, Kibbutzim are socialistic or if you like communistic inside but capitalistic in their relation with each other, the rest of Israel and the outside world.

So what is wrong with what we call communism. We associate Lenin, Trotsky and Stalin with communism. You may not realize it but when Communism began, Americans were flocking to join communist and socialist organizations and unions in America. Workers were being treated even worse then than today and this was their way of joining together to get a fair deal. The bosses hated this and went to extremes to stop these movements*. No way did they want to pay a fair wage for a fair days work. Then in Russia, Stalin co-opted the movement.

* They used hired goons, then the national guard and in some cases the army.

When the abuses Stalin perpetuated on his own people became known, people left communist organizations almost as fast as they had joined. His abuses had nothing to do with Communism as such. He was a ruthless dictator who stifled any spark of Democracy and the rule of law and abused his own people. To give him credit where a small amount of credit is due, he had to prepare his country to withstand the aggression of Germany and in a new democracy without established mechanisms, he might well, not have succeeded.

So what is wrong with Capitalism. Nothing at all. The problem is not with Capitalism as such but with the destruction of democracy by the leaders who want power and the uneven application of the rule of law. Being a Capitalist or a Communist has nothing to do with democracy or the rule of law. You can have democracy and the rule of law in both system or no democracy and disdain of the rule of law in both systems.

Look at yourself as a citizen of a so called democracy. What are you not allowed to do. You can't steal, obtain financial benefit by false pretenses. You can't throw your pollution or garbage on your neighbors land or your commons. You can't bear false witness. You can't cause the death of other by omission or commission and so forth. This is all as it should be..... but the law is not applied equally.

Large companies and rich individuals get away with all of these and it takes a huge effort to bring them to justice. It happens but it is notable in its rarity when a case succeeds against a big corporation or a rich person who is abusing his position. Corporations and the rich can afford high power lawyers who can find loop holes in the law to get them out of trouble when an ordinary citizen would be sent to jail for the same crime.

Look at the recent election in America. America has the finest founding document, (The Constitution), in the world. The core of this document is that the government is by and for the people. Chuck out all the rest and leave only this phrase and it would still be the finest founding document in the world. Look what happened in the DNC (the Democratic National Convention - the body that chooses who their candidate will be in the presidential election). Debbie Wasserman Shultz in cahoots with Hillary did everything they could to make Hillary the candidate and succeeded despite the fact that Bernie was clearly the peoples choice. (remember that part about for and by the people). Then Obama, who is a constitutional lawyer and who swore to uphold the Constitution, came out for Hillary (by and for???). Then Warren followed suit. These people only pay lip service to the Constitution, the top law document of the United States. I doubt if they even understand the concept.

They remind me of some of my religious friends. They extol the bible but only follow the parts that fit with their world view or even more cynically, the parts that give them some sort of advantage. Actually, it is lucky, to some extent, that they do pick and choose. Imagine what trouble you would be in if you followed the bible literally and started to stone your neighbor as he cut the lawn on Sunday. On that line, I find it amazing that the religions right is at the forefront of mining, logging fishing, drilling in parks and in short exploiting nature to the n'th degree with no regard for sustainability while the atheistic left wants to preserve our world in some sort of reasonable shape for their descendants. Go figure.

Anyway back to the topic. The problem is not with Communism or Capitalism or any other ism you care to site. The problem is whether the rule of law is applied equally and fairly and whether or not you have a democracy which is truly by and for the people. Both can exist in any ism or be absent. In America Democracy and the rule of law are disappearing at a rapid rate if they ever even actually existed.